Augmented reality is reshaping the way people interact with the world. A person's perception of real-world environments can be enhanced by augmenting that perception with artificial sensory inputs such as sounds, graphics, and sensory feedback (e.g., vibration feedback of a gaming controller). Many augmented reality platforms incorporate numerous types of sensory inputs to provide a fully immersive experience to users of the platform. Some augmented reality platforms include artificial sensory inputs that are interactive. A user may interact with these inputs and, in response, the platform may produce new or modified sensory inputs leading to an even further immersion in the augmented environment.
One type of conventional augmented reality system includes a camera and a display screen. The camera captures live video of the real-world environment and reproduces the video feed on the display screen. The system then augments the video feed of the real-world environment by overlaying computer-generated graphics onto the video feed. The system can augment the video feed based on the real-world environment being captured or the user's interaction with the video feed. For example, the system may recognize patterns on flat surfaces in the real-world environment and display augmentations on the display screen in response to detecting those patterns.
Another type of conventional augmented reality system includes a sensor and a projection display. The projection display projects an interactive graphical overlay onto flat real-world surfaces such as a floor or wall. Users of the system can interact with the projected graphical overlay by, for example, placing their hand over the projected graphical overlay. The sensor detects the presence of the user's hand disrupting the projection and modifies the projection accordingly.
The inventors here have recognized several technical problems with such conventional augmented reality systems, as explained below. For example, conventional systems that use conventional image recognition capabilities may be unable to detect patterns on surfaces that are not flat and may be unable to accommodate variations and distortions in detectable environmental patterns. As one example, a real-world environmental pattern may become wrinkled, stretched, faded, etc., and may no longer be detectable by conventional augmented reality systems. Moreover, some conventional augmented reality systems may include image recognition capabilities that cannot track displacement of detectable environmental patterns. For example, conventional systems may be unable to track a detectable pattern as a user of the conventional system moves the pattern in the environment. Still further, conventional augmented reality systems may employ technology that is deficient in detecting environmental patterns in certain mediums. For example, conventional systems may be ill-suited for detecting patterns in woven and printed materials because of certain technical problems and constrains of those materials (e.g., low contrast and local contrast in patterns, poor pattern resolution, small pattern size, surface reflections in the materials, etc.).
Further, conventional textile manufacturing techniques are well suited to creating repeating patterns, but are ill-suited to generating patterns in textiles with spatially aperiodic designs, or with unpredictable variations in the textile designs.